Smyrna, TN Parking Rules: Driveway Rules (2026)

Section 15-609 of the Smyrna Municipal Code controls what a vehicle can sit on. On property zoned for residential use, motorized vehicles as defined in § 15-605(1) must be parked either on a paved, concreted, rock, or gravel driveway (or another engineered porous surface as recommended by the Director of Public Works for nonresidential uses in a residential district) or stored in a completely enclosed space that includes a roof.

Grass and dirt are allowed only in the side and rear yards, and only if the area is enclosed by an opaque privacy fence at least six feet in height. In the front yard the code sets a percentage cap: on residential lots less than one acre, parking and storing motorized vehicles cannot occupy more than 50% of the front yard of a single-family dwelling or 75% of a two-family dwelling.

Several exceptions are printed. Property zoned residential but used for a nonresidential purpose can use a manufactured porous surface recommended by the state Department of Environment and Conservation, once the Director of Public Works approves it and the Town Planner gives written approval of the location, placement, and frequency of use. The Planning Director has discretion to require Planning Commission review of the surface. Recreational vehicles such as boats with trailers, ATVs, and campers can stay in the rear yard, with no part encroaching the rear corner of the residence, regardless of surface. Construction sites without suitable surfaces yet are not in violation, and neither is property designated as greenbelt or agricultural under T.C.A. Title 67, Chapter 5, Part 10.

Nonresidential zones have their own version in § 15-609(4): motorized vehicles there must be on a surface that is paved, concreted, or substantially covered with rock or gravel, or an approved alternative. The codes enforcement and inspection division enforces the section.